Pakistan asks UN to hold Israel accountable for war crimes in Gaza
UNITED NATIONS (APP) - At a tense UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday, Pakistan reiterated its strong condemnation of Israeli air strikes and military action in Gaza, warning that further massive civilian casualties in the Palestinian enclave could trigger a 'wider and more dangerous' conflict.
“Pakistan calls for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire,” Ambassador Munir Akram said during a 15-member Council’s high-level debate on the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine.
“Continuation of the Israeli campaign in the Gaza will lead to further massive civilian casualties and could trigger a wider and more dangerous conflict,” the Pakistani envoy told the meeting addressed by a total of 86 speakers from countries and regional groups – including more than twenty ministers – that pushed the conflict to the centre of world geopolitics.
In his speech to the Security Council, Ambassador Akram conveyed Pakistan’s full support and solidarity with Palestinian brothers and sisters in these tragic and challenging times. Israel’s relentless and indiscriminate bombardment of Gaza over the last 17 days has killed more than 5,800 people and injured another 16,000, the Pakistani envoy said, 'strongly and unequivocally' condemning Israel’s airstrikes and military actions in Gaza, particularly attacks on schools, residential buildings and hospitals.
“These Israeli attacks on civilians, civilian objects and infrastructure, blockade of water, food and fuel as well as the forced transfer of people from the occupied territory, are flagrant violations of international humanitarian law and amount to war crimes,” he said, adding those responsible for these atrocity crimes must be held accountable.
Ambassador Akram regretted the Security Council has been unable to issue a call for a ceasefire. "In this regard, a heavy responsibility rests on those who contribute to the prolongation of this conflict," he said.
"Last week, the Security Council failed to adopt two previous draft resolutions addressing the escalation in the Middle East. The first from Russia calling for an immediate ceasefire, failed to get enough votes, while a Brazilian draft was vetoed by the United States. Although it called for humanitarian pauses for aid access, the US determined objected to the fact it did not mention Israel’s right to self-defence.
“Any attempt to create a false equivalence between Israel, the occupying power, and the Palestinians, the victims of this occupation, is untenable – legally, morally and politically,” the Pakistani envoy said.
The displacement of the Palestinian population of Gaza violated international humanitarian law, he said, demanding that the Council must reject Israel’s attempts to displace the Gazans, within or outside Gaza. Under international law, he said, the struggle of people living under foreign occupation for self-determination and national liberation is legitimate and cannot be equated with terrorism.
“It is the suppression of this struggle, which is illegal,” the Pakistani envoy said, pointing out that throughout history, colonial powers have portrayed national liberation movements as terrorism. “Some in this council have offered protection to their allies who are oppressing occupied peoples in Palestine or Kashmir,” he said. “Under the UN Charter, States have the right of self-defence against attacks on their sovereignty and territorial integrity. Yet, a State, which is in forcible occupation of a foreign territory, cannot invoke the ‘right to self-defence’ against those whose territory it has illegally occupied,” Ambassador Akram. “The perpetuation of Israeli occupation will not bring peace to the Holy Land. Durable peace will emerge from the internationally agreed two-state solution and from the creation of a secure, viable, contiguous, and sovereign state of Palestine on the basis of the pre-June 1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.”
During the day-long debate, most speakers voiced alarm at the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza, stressing the need for water, fuel and medicine to enter the besieged enclave. Many delegates underscored the urgent need to avoid a regional conflagration and to recommit to a two-state solution.
The speakers, however, varied in emphasis, with some full-throatedly asserting Israel’s right to defend itself against an existential terror threat, while others deplored the blockade and the seemingly indiscriminate nature of the strikes and called for international law to be respected.
Riad Al-Maliki, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the State of Palestine, urged the Council and the international community to put an end to the ongoing massacres perpetrated by the occupying Power, Israel, against the Palestinian civilian population. “The Security Council has a duty to stop them. Continued failure at this council is inexcusable,” he emphasized, calling on the 15-member organ to call for a ceasefire, secure humanitarian access in all parts of Gaza, end the forced displacement, provide international protection for the Palestinian people, and achieve justice through accountability.
